1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for securing cable and, in particular, concerns an apparatus and a method for securing excess loops of ribbon cable.
2. Description of the Related Art
Ribbon cable is a type of cable that is used to interconnect computer devices. Ribbon cable is commonly used to interconnect computer motherboards with other components within a computer system and it can also be used to interconnect personal computers to other devices in a network. One typical application is to use ribbon cable to interconnect component devices that are linked in a SCSI interface network.
Ribbon cable is comprised of a plurality of conductors that are positioned so as to be coplanar. The conductors are typically embedded within insulation material that provides some protection to the conductors of the ribbon cable. A typical ribbon cable may, in fact, have forty or more conductors arranged side-by-side and embedded within an insulating material.
Oftentimes when ribbon cable is used to interconnect different devices, there is an excess amount of ribbon cable. This excess, or slack, in the ribbon cable can be caught during movement of computer devices or movement of items around the ribbon cable to the point where the ribbon cable may be damaged or dislodged from the computer devices. To address this particular problem, the excess or slack ribbon cable is often gathered and secured together through the use of wire ties. Wire ties are typically thin pieces of wire that are embedded within plastic that can be wrapped around a folded up section of excess ribbon cable to secure the excess ribbon cable together.
One difficulty with using wire ties to secure excess ribbon cable is that the wire ties can crimp the outermost conductors of the ribbon cable. This crimp in the outermost conductors of the ribbon cable can result in these conductors becoming separated at the crimped point. Once the conductors are separated, these conductors can no longer transmit data between the components of the computer system. Alternatively, the thin wire tie may exert sufficient force against the insulation of the ribbon cable to puncture or wear away the insulation thereby exposing the embedded conductors. Hence, while wire ties can be used to gather excess slack in the ribbon cable to avoid the excess ribbon cable becoming entangled, the use of wire ties can damage the ribbon cable.
As an alternative to wire ties, excess ribbon cable can be positioned within a clamp device which has a surface that receives the ribbon cable and extends across the full width of the ribbon cable. The ribbon cable can then be bent back and forth within the receiving surface following which a cover can be installed over the receiving surface so as to clamp the excess cable on the receiving surface. One such prior art clamp is manufactured by Richco Plastic Company of Chicago, Ill. and sold under the name of "Flat Cable Routing Clamp". While this clamp does allow for the capture of excess ribbon cable without the crimping problems associated with the use of wire ties, this type of clamp is cumbersome to use.
Specifically, this type of clamp is a two-part clamp wherein the cover is separate from the base. Hence, the installer has to position the ribbon cable on the base and hold the ribbon cable in position while simultaneously locating and installing the cover of the clamp device. However, excess ribbon cable is often gathered in locations where there is not a significant amount of room for the installer to work. Consequently, it can be very difficult to position the cover on the base while simultaneously retaining the loops of excess ribbon cable on the base.
To aid in the installation process, some clamps have been equipped with securing holes in the base to allow the base to be secured to a surface prior to positioning the excess ribbon cable within the base. While this does ease some of the problems associated with positioning the ribbon cable within the base during installation, this requires the additional step of mounting the base to a piece of adjacent equipment which is often not practical or possible.
Moreover, this type of clamp design is difficult to reuse. For example, the Richco device incorporates a locking mechanism that prevent easy removal once installed. Hence, if the installer wishes to access the slack to add components or reconfigure the system, the clamps inhibit an easy transition. This further limits the flexibility of using this type of clamp device as it limits the ability of the installer of the computer system to selectively modify the installation of the computer system and requires the installer to use new clamps.
Hence, from the foregoing, it will be appreciated that there is a need for a clamping device that can be used to gather and secure excess ribbon cable. This clamping device should be easy to use so that an installer can gather the ribbon cable and secure it within the clamping device without having to manipulate multiple parts. Moreover, there is a need for a clamping device that is reusable so that the installer can selectively disengage portions of the excess ribbon cable to permit connection to other devices or reconfiguration of the computer system.